George Bangs (February 26, 1826[a] – November 17, 1877) was an American businessman who began his adult life working in private ventures including printing, shoes, farming and journalism before becoming postmaster of Aurora, Illinois, in 1861.

[3] In 1858, with Steward's help, he purchased the Aurora Republican and merged it with the Beacon, becoming editor and publisher of the combined operation and making it an important Ohio paper.

[3] Upon the outbreak of war, Bangs helped organize the volunteer 36th Illinois Infantry Regiment unit and was appointed a Colonel on the staff of Governor Richard Yates.

Upon the retirement of Armstrong in 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Bangs General Superintendent in Washington, D.C.[3][6] The United States Post Office Department utilized trains from the 1830s.

[7] The inaugural "fast-mail" train left New York at 4 a.m. on September 16, 1875, and arrived over 900 mi (1,400 km) away at Chicago's Lake Shore station in a record-setting 26 hours.

Guests on the train numbered more than 100, including various postal officials, Senator Carl Schurz, and Vice-President Henry Wilson.

[8] A large volume of mail continued to be carried by Railway Post Office cars on regular passenger trains.

[7] Even though the priority trains were very successful in improving mail operations, Congress discontinued funding eleven months after the initial run.

A special rail car, provided by the Pennsylvania Railroad, was used to transport his body and entourage, led by his successor superintendent of the RMS Theodore Vail,[13] to Chicago where he was buried on November 21.

[2][14] The Chicago post office was closed for the funeral at Christ Reformed Episcopal Church,[15] in which 600 postal clerks marched in procession.

[19] The monument was made from grey marble[5][c] by sculptor and stonecutter Engelbert Gast, a Bavarian immigrant active in Chicago at the time,[20] and is today considered a notable example of cemetery art.

[21] The 18-foot (5.5 m) tall monument, which cost US$5,000 (equivalent to $157,862 in 2023),[22] was unveiled in a ceremony on September 13, 1879, at Chicago's Interstate Exposition Building.